Forum for Science, Industry and Business

Fraunhofer-Institut Materialfluss und Logistik

The Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML is the specialist in all questions relating to logistics. Taking a holistic approach, it supports companies in all aspects of site and field logistics. Ad-hoc teams composed for each project or customer provide industry-wide and customer-specific solutions in such areas as material handling engineering, warehouse management, business process modeling, simulation-based enterprise planning and system planning of manufacturing and logistics operations. The Institute also supplies solutions for traffic systems, traffic management, materials-cycle management and e-business.

The main target of the Institute´s activities lies in the development of sustainable solutions that combine human, ecological and economic factors with equal emphasis.

All three of the directors of the Fraunhofer Institute IML are faculty chair members of the University of Dortmund Mechanical Engineering School. As a result, numerous different working alliances have been formed, including joint basic research ventures, as exemplified by the Institute´s participation in a priority state-sponsored research project on the modeling of large-scale networks in the logistics industry.

The Fraunhofer IML collaborates with international scientific establishments and works together with companies throughout the world.

In addition to Dortmund, the Institute maintains locations in Cottbus, Frankfurt am Main, Paderborn and Prien. The Fraunhofer IML employs a total of 160 specialist scientists and 250 post-graduate students, supported by a wide range of workshop, laboratory and service staff. Undergraduate students following a degree course in logistics at the University of Dortmund obtain practical experience at the Institute as temporary members of the project teams.